Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1887-02-13
ATALk AsoUF wEEDs.
[Chicago Tribnne.l


Any plant. however valuable, grow
ing where il is not Of economical value
is as worthless as any weed. In fact
any plant growing where il is moi
wanted is a weed, for the word weed is
simply q relative term; it being non
sense 10 assert that any plant is worth
less, although to ones sense It. may
seem so. Al plants, then, in certain
situations, may be considered as weeds,
and. as the converse, all plants IN their
places are valuable. As an instance,
mustard, rape. the vetch, &c, are plants
Of great economical value. Neverthe-
less. growing among crops, they are the
most annoying Of weeds, the Canada
thistle perhaps excepted. In fact, vetch-
es under the name Of tares are men,
toned in the Bible as yexatious when
growing in grain.
In days ride over the State OF Illi-
nois by railway the traveller, not a farm
err, might naturally suppose mustard TO
be one Of the most widely cultivated
plants. Field after field may be seen
yellow with its bloom in the proper
season. II Is most widely found, not
because farmers want it, but because il
has crept in. some with grain, and is
persistent in retaining its hold in the
sod. In fact, il was reported last sea
son that Cinnamon in California had
made money separating the seed of
the mustard from the wheat crop.
Nevertheless wheat and mustard are
two crops not profitable to grow to-
gether.
Any good farmer. seeing the unthrift
Of weedy fields in iourneying through
q country, carries away with him an
unfavorable impression Of that region
and its people, and very properly so.
All the land occupied by weeds Is so
occupied 10 the detriment OF the real
crop. The expense Of preparing the
soil, sowing. harvesting and threshing,
is n fixed cost; and, however weedy
the crop, there is no diminution in this
expense. Ii there is six per cent. Of
weeds in the crop, the probability Is
there will be no profit in the outcome.
In any event the loss Of profit is in
exact proportion to the waste Of soil
from weeds Ii makes really but little
difference what the foul crop is. In
a wheat crop, rye, barley or oats are
as much weeds as any improbable
seed.
Weeds In the soil are not the only
loss the slack farmer has 20 contend
with before the crop is finally sold.
There is another kind OF weed---the
dirt and other foul trash left in the
grain, and which some persons fondly
seem TO think can be sold for the price
Of the clean grain contained in the mass.
IL never vet was done. Not only does
the buyer deduct a price sufficient 70
fully recover the loss from the trash,
but he also deducts q good round sum
TO pay for cleaning. This amounts
often % 10 per cent. and sometimes
10 Is per cent. Of the price Of good
clean grain.
One farmer, by careful selection and
careful cultivation, brings grain OF
vegetable 90 a high state Of perfection.
His neighbors are all eager to procure
this new variety at a largely enhanced
price over that Of ordinary seed. On
few years Of slack cultivation the crop
again degenerates, and this class OF
men are constantly saying that seed
soon runs out md must be changed.
IL is the man, and not the seed, that
runs out. Ii every farmer would be
as careful in the saving OF seed as the
careful man IS of his cash, there would
be no running out OF seed; neither
would fields be foul with weeds, for care
in the selection Of seed would soon be-
get care in caltivAting. and thus only
the plants actually wanted would be
found growing in the fields.
Weeds have been called the lazy
mans relation. They are that, and
sometimes more. They are the means
used BY nature 10 cover the sod. And
this brings the matter back 10 the
question 81 weeds. Man has taken for
hts use such plants as are best adapted
20 his use. Plants Of value in one eli
mate may not be valuable in another.
Hence there they would be weeds.
The list OF plants valuable 10 man and
the domestic animals as food and med
icine Is very small in number IN COM
parison with the botanical list u plants
IL the world They all have their use
in nature. Vet, because nature uses
various grasses and plants 20 cover
otherwise waste places. there Is no
reason whv man should allow them to
errroach upon his fields. Ii Is good
time. this first day Of the new year, TO
AK Yourself the question, - Have you
used all the economical means IN your
mower 10 eradicate worthless plants and
cultivate well the best"